Countdown
by legendaryfour
Summary: Tobias Eaton is getting married. This is a countdown to his wedding day. / MODERN DAY AU. /
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note:** Hi, guys! I haven't had the time to write in such a long time, but this idea for a story just kind of came at me recently and I couldn't let it go unwritten! This story is going to be a countdown leading up to Tobias' wedding day with a whole lot of sadness (and possibly happiness?) thrown in the mix. Chapter One is in Tobias' point of view, but each chapter will differ in regards to who's telling the story. I also haven't given up on and _ **i stll love him**_ ; it's been awhile, I know, but I'm hoping my muse for it will come back very soon!

Feedback is welcome, I encourage it, actually!

* * *

He's getting married in two months.

And he _still_ can't believe it.

Tobias Eaton never thought that he would be the type to _ever_ commit on such a level. Throughout his entire life, he had never witnessed even one marriage work out for the better.

Yet, here he found himself- beer in hand, the brightness of the television dimly lighting up their poorly lit living room apartment as he watched his bride-to-be flip through wedding magazines with heavy eyes.

And _god_ did she look beautiful. With her auburn colored locks twisted back into a messy bun, pen dangling through her fingertips, feet crossed at the ankles, the city lights outside of their apartment window illuminating her body in _just_ the right way.

Fuck, he was so enthralled by her.

And she must have sensed him staring, because soon she was facing him, gaze locked with his own. It was only natural now that he could feel a smile dancing on his lips.

"What are you looking at?"

She's already crawling onto his lap when he musters up an answer, her hands resting on the back of his neck.

"You," he replies lamely, his own hands finding their place on her hips. "Just still can't believe you're going to be my wife in _two_ months."

"Well, Mr. Eaton... You best start believing it. I don't want you to be surprised on our wedding day when you find out it's me walking down the aisle to meet you."

Her laughter echoes throughout their living room, and Tobias can only smile in response. It reminds him of the first day they met, when Zeke sneakily set them up and they surprisingly hit it off. They were a mess of laughter that day.

He remembers when he first laid his eyes on her, thinking that there was no way they would hit it off. She was extremely pretty, but he could've sworn she looked more like Zeke's type than his own. And, _god_ , he remembers feeling so stupid when she proved him wrong.

This girl was his second love, the girl that reminded him that he was allowed to move on from his first love. She taught him what it felt like to love again, opened his eyes in so many different way- made him realize that love was something much bigger than merely a passing feeling. She understood him on a level that didn't look like pity when he told her about his past. _We have a lot more in common than you think_ , was what she had said and in that moment, _fuck_ did he want to hurt every single person that had ever hurt her.

Tobias loved her, he really did, but always had the feeling that there was something missing. His second love was everything he had hoped for it to be, but none of that compared to his first love.

And he hated himself for even having that thought.

"I think I'll always be surprised that you're going to be Mrs. Eaton in a few weeks," he said with a small laugh.

"Mrs. Sienna Eaton. I think it has a nice ring to it,"

"Yeah. Yeah it does." Tobias says, his eyes closing tight as she presses her lips to his cheek.

* * *

 **Authors note:** And that's the first chapter! I'm sorry that it's a little short. The next chapter will be in Tris' point of view, and it's actually already written so all I need to do is proofread it, so it should be up extremely soon!


	2. Chapter 2

He's getting married in one month.

And Tris Prior has cried two times because of it.

The first time she cried was three weeks ago when she and Christina got their invitations in the mail. Luckily for her, Christina had an early start at work and wasn't home to witness her breakdown.

She remembers it as clear as day. Their mail had been sitting on the table beside the front door to their apartment, and she had decided to go through it before her morning run. She remembers the way she let her fingertips trace along the edges of the envelope, the front of it, the back of it, over her name that was written in cursive.

Tris Prior remembers the exact moment she realized what she was holding in her hands. She remembers the exact moment it felt like her whole world was crashing down around her, the moment where she slid down the wall to the bare fall in a heap of tears.

Pain like that was something she had never felt before. She remembers feeling it spilling through her heart, rushing through her veins, thudding at her temples, growing wildly in the pit of her stomach and smoothing over every single crack in her skin. Yes, she might have experienced a taste tester of it when they parted ways, but this was something on a new level.

Because, in her own selfish way, she always thought that they would end up finding their ways back to each other. Because their love wasn't the kind to be easily forgotten. It was the type that was impossible to fall back on, the type where the electricity between them never sizzled out, the type that made her felt like she was drowning but that didn't matter because she loved him and knew that he loved her back.

They had been each other's first loves and somehow that was everything.

She had known that he was seeing somebody; Uriah had told her so. But what she hadn't known was that things were this serious between them. That things were serious enough for marriage, of all things. She found that kind of funny, actually. Because when she was with him, he had always insisted that marriage wasn't for him.

But that- holding the invitation in her hand felt as if reality was just continuously slapping her in the face. It was the realization that her first love, the only man she has ever loved, the only person she's ever allowed to _really_ know her is getting married.

The realization that he had moved on from her; inviting her had confirmed that.

His invitation meant that he was ready to let go. It meant that she had to stop holding onto the idea that there was hope for a future with him. The invitation meant that they both needed to let go of each other; to start their present lives without living in the past.

Attending his wedding meant saying goodbye.

And Tris Prior remembers those exact things running through her head as her heart broke into a million pieces. For some reason, she accepted them too. She saw this as her opportunity to move on, just like he had. For far too long, Tris had been grasping onto the idea that it was going to be the two of them in the end. It was silly and naive and she hated herself for feeling that way, but she couldn't do anything to stop it.

Until now.

So, despite how much it hurt, Tris Prior also remembers the way she wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand, splashed cold water of her face and grabbed her water bottle, going on her morning jog like she did every morning. And after that, she continued on with her day like nothing hurt.

Because she was strong.

She wasn't going to let this bring her down.

* * *

The second time she cried was last night.

She and Christina had just booked their plane tickets and had probably had one too many drinks.

They were sitting on the couch and Tris had her legs dangled over her best friends lap as their music blasted throughout their apartment.

"Do you think it's unusual that he invited me?" she asks, yet her voice is so quiet that she isn't even sure if Christina has heard her. Her thoughts are only confirmed when silence seems to settle in the air as their playlist skips to the next song.

Because Tris thinks it's really weird. If she was getting married, she knew for a fact that she wouldn't have invited Tobias.

If she saw him, he would have made her question things too much, and she probably wouldn't end up going through with it. She already compared every guy she dated back to him- seeing him would just make everything worse.

Things couldn't be like that for him, she thought, otherwise he wouldn't have invited her. Like Uriah had told her multiple times, he was probably just doing it to show that he had moved on. That he had a new life now. The comment was supposed to make her feel better about things, apparently, but really, it only made Tris feel worse.

"I think it's unusual that he invited you," Christina finally replies. "But he's never been one for conventional and would it be even weirder if you didn't show up since he invited you?"

Tris has to think about it, then, because _surely_ he'd have to understand why this was difficult for her.

He expected her, knowing the feelings she once had for him, to show up to his _wedding?_

God, she had never wanted to punch him in the face more.

"I don't know if I can go though with it, Chris. Seeing somebody else walk down the aisle to meet him..." It's like her throat closes up, a sound mixed between a sob and a gasp escaping past her lips as she throws her head back against the couch, the tears spilling. "Because I loved him, you know. I really fucking loved him and this is some type of emotional torture he's putting me through. Wanting me to watch him get married to somebody else- who would _do_ that?"

Christina doesn't say anything as she scoots closer to her best friend, arms enclosing around her body.

They sit like that for awhile longer, until Tris' tears stopped and their playlist finished.

Then they got up, like nothing happened, and drunk until they couldn't even remember their own names.

Tris regretted it in the morning, that was for sure, but she felt strong.

She wasn't going to waste another tear on him.


End file.
